Tuesday, December 7, 2010

This is the latest model of Ferrari 458 Challenge, it is officially revealed in today's Bologna motor show and it was solely made to compete in the 2011 Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series, obviously the base model is the Ferrari 458 Italia, with some key changes made that enables this car to transform into a high speed road race car.

TheFerrari 458 Challenge is no stranger, as a matter of fact they've already previewed this unit before this autumn in Italy. The focal changes made was the gear ratios and calibration of its dual-clutch F1 gearbox that produces higher torque on lower revs. the E-Diff electronic differential is also equipped which is the first for Ferrari’s track cars.

Other important modifications made to this Ferrari 458 Challenge is the car's diet, they've manage to reduce the car's weight replacing the interior and exterior parts with carbon fibers and Lexan plastics, Ferrari 458 Challenge also equips a special suspension made with solid aluminum bushing, with ride lowered by 30mm for a better performance they've also equipped a stiffer springs to go along with the single rate dampers and a 19" center nut light weight rims with a larger dimension Pirelli tires. Other track modification features the F1-Trac traction control, which is responsible for the maximum level of road grip, using their expertise as an F1 and GT champion they've develop two types of calibrations the wet and the dry.

Ferrari 458 Challenge still equips the direct injection 4497 cc V8 engine, that produces a 570 bhp @ 9,000 rpm. with its dual-clutch F1 gearbox modified the results came with an lap time improvement of 2 seconds over its predecessor posting a new record of 1’16.5” this new Challenge generates a lateral grip of 1.6G.

Prices are yet to be announced, but we expect this one to be more than £185,000.